Just because you have your cholesterol levels checked, doesn't = statin drugs. Especially when we are talking about children.

I have mixed thoughts of the testing. I will have to think about it.

FWIW I had very high cholesterol. My Doc put me on Zocor. Tested my liver a month later. My liver enzymes went up. So we switched to Crestor. Same problem. My liver enzymes jumped dramatically. Doc took me completely off of them immediately and is going to retest my liver in a couple of weeks.

I thought this was also an interesting assessment of the new American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines from 2008, when they started recommending screening of children with familial risk factors, not ALL children.

But they also provide no evidence for their view that lowering cholesterol levels in growing kids is effective for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Because there isn’t any.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.Benjamin Franklin

Just because you have your cholesterol levels checked, doesn't = statin drugs.

I'm very dubious that checking cholesterol in kids will not lead to more pharmaceutical treatment of "high cholesterol". I don't know why they would check if there were not some anticipation of treatment. I don't mean to say that cholesterol should never be checked in children. In certain cases, MAYBE it is reasonable. I don't think it is reasonable to check ALL children.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.Benjamin Franklin

When a doctor determines high levels of (bad) cholesterol, the first course of action is to recommend dietary changes to lower the cholesterol. Only when that fails (usually due to the unwillingness of the patient, and in this case probably the patient's parents) that is when statins are advised. I don't know if I agree every child needs to be tested either, but considering how many kids eat most of their meals out of paper bags and pizza boxes it might not be outright misguided.

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" - Dr. Seuss